The World Health Organisation has warned that the new Covid strain Omicron poses a “very high “risk. In its technical note, the global body said that “If another major surge of Covid-19 takes place driven by Omicron, consequences may be severe” They even mentioned that no dates have been linked to the variant as of now although it did mention that there is a high overall risk associated with the virus.
WHO also termed the virus as “highly divergent”
The research authorities are comparing it to highly notorious Delta variant. The Delta variant had caused Covid waves in the world. The Second Covid wave in India was due to the Delta variant. Europe is witnessing a rapid surge in cases due to the delta variant.
WHO said that researchers around the world are carrying out studies to find more about the new variant?
However based on preliminary analysis everywhere, it is believed to be 6 times more transmissible than the Delta variant. It is believed that it can even infect the vaccinated. WHO has said that “the use of social distancing, ventilation of indoor space, crowd avoidance and hand hygiene remain key to reducing transmission of SARS COV-2 even with the emergence of the Omicron variant”
India hasn’t yet reported a case of Omicron.
However, the cases are being detected elsewhere. The cases have been detected in South Africa, Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong, Israel, Germany, Netherlands, Czech republic, Denmark, Australia, Italy and united Kingdom